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The original Virtua Tennis for the Dreamcast was the quintessential example of a game that was easy to grasp, but truly difficult to master. With the recent release of Virtua Fighter 5, Sega has shown that it can still create an amazing title, and Virtua Tennis 3 makes for another fine example. With Virtua Tennis 3, we're offered a new iteration of the series complete with a healthy career mode, a nice variety of mini-games, solid visuals and the core gameplay that we've come to know and love.

Serving Sizes Vary

Once of the nicest aspects of VT3 is that your gameplay experience can be as short or as long as you'd like, with some modes being more involved than others. Game modes include World Tour, Tournament, Exhibition and Court Games. The World Tour mode is the career mode and will be where you spend the vast majority of your time; Tournament has players compete in a one-shot tourney; Exhibition is a single match; and the Court Games mode lets you play a quick round of one of the numerous mini-games.

As with any sports game, one of the most important aspects is the career mode. Though the World Tour mode isn't as deep as a Madden game's, with coaching features and trading systems, it doesn't need to be, and you're never left dissatisfied. To start your career, you first create your avatar, which you must guide through the ranks over a maximum of 20 years. The character creation process allows only simple customization, with a handful of options (facial features, hair styles and colors, height and weight, and clothing colors). Once you're done, you'll be taken to a world map, where you can choose to participate in a tournament, play some skill-developing mini games, or start your training at the tennis academy, honing your skills to become a formidable opponent to the best players on the planet.

The game will hold your hand until you get a hang of things, won't coddle you too much. Where Mario Tennis will give you specific instructions on how to perform a certain action, Virtua Tennis will be vague, often telling you to "perform exercise A," without saying how the exercise is done. This is both a bother and a blessing in disguise; though you may find yourself frustrated by the lack of instruction, figuring things out on your own ends up giving you a better, more intuitive grasp of the mechanics.

As a result, you'll find that your character will become unique to you. While one player may grasp how to perform corner serves straight away, they may be lacking in power shots; on the other hand, you may find yourself excelling at footwork exercises, while literally dropping the ball when it comes to volleying. Your ability on the court will level up the many skills each player has, making you strong in some areas and weak in others, just like you'd find in any athlete in the real world. You'll also have the option to go back and focus on specific skill sets with either more training in the academy, or through playing the mini-games scattered across the game map.